Fabricated covering for aeroplanes



MQW I Il O. 'I1 BELCHER.

FABRICATED COVERING FOR AEROPLANES.

'Ul' I |1V19192l l ,426,626. Patente@ Aug. 22, 19

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IUI/@nfor tia-TTT sTTas OSIMND THERQN BELCHER, @F

LOS ANGELES, CLKFORNJIA, SSIGNOR T0 EELCHER AERIAL MANUFATWRING CMIPANY, @Oli-t?ORit'lllm 0F CORNEA.

FABRCATED GOVERENG- FUR AEROPLANES.

Application led July i9,

To aZZ'ww/m it may concer/n.'

Be it known that l, OsMoND THERON Bniioiinn, a citizen of the United States, residin at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Ange es, State of California, have invented new and useful improvements in Fabricated Coverings for Aeroplanes, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention is an improvement in the structure and in the method of construction of a fabricated wood covering as is set forth in my Patent No. 1,311,205 issued July 29, 1919, entitled Aeropiane .construction, the objects of the present invention being to strengthen the covering and to simplify its method of construction.

With reference to the drawings: v

Fig. l is a view of a fragment of a simple weave of wood ribbons showing two separate sections of corrrugated iiller'glued upon its surface.

lFig. 2 is a perspective view of a section of corrugated filler used in the covering.

lFig. 3 is a view looking at the edge of a fragment of completed covering;

Fi l is a view of a plurality of corrugate strips used for a filler and showing a method of assembling the filler on rods prior to placing it in the structure of the covering.

ln carrying out the present invention a simple weave 1 of wood ribbons is made on a special loom. The-wood ribbons are sliced from clear stoclr and for common purposes may be one and one-fourth inch wide and fteen thousandths of an inch thick. rlhe ribbons are glued end to end and wound on reels for the weaving and form vboth the warp and weft of the weave. The weave is glued with waterproof glue throughout where the warp and weft lay together.

A sheet of such fabric l is laid upon a form which has the shape vof a wing or fuselage or other object to be covered and then covered with corrugated strips 2, the strips being set with waterproof glue. A second sheet of the fabric l is then placed over and glued down upon the corrugated :filler and a top member of the form allowed to rest upon the completed covering until it is surdiciently dried and the glue set thus building up a covering for wings, fuselage and the like which will hold its shape under varying weather conditions.

lln the assemblage of the covering and more particularly in placing the corrugated Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug.; 22, i922.

i921. serial no. 485,933.

strips upon the first sheet of fabric some difficulty-has been encountered. 'lo illustrate: if the strips 2-are placed as'shown at A, Fig. 1, that is with-the corrugations matching groove to groove, it has been found difficult to hold the corrugated strips in place while the top sheet is being glued down which practice results in a covering having weakened areas and an uneven surface.

lt has been found necessary in the practical manufacture of the covering, to avoid the above mentioned difficulties and weaknesses, in placing the corrugated strips upon the first sheet of fabric to place each strip one-half a corrugation ahead of the preceding one, as shown at B, Fig. 1, that is with the grooves of one strip matching the ridges of the next. 'This method of construction is followed not only to stagger the convolutions of the filler and strengthen the finished covering but mainly to allow an assembling of the strips 2 on rods 3 in wide sheets, as shown in Fig. 4, the rods 3 being put through a plurality of the strips, over one strip and under the next, as shown, while the strips are held in a proper jig.

Thus a large sheet made up of the corrugated strips may be all hung together with the rods and laid upon a first sheet of fabric which has been placed upon a form and a second sheet of fabric laid upon the corrugations without fear of misplacing them or that they have warped away from a. proper position, also with a certainty that all the ridges of the filler will stand up to the same height and all touch and be glued to the overlaying sheet of fabric.

As soon as the second sheet of .fabric has been set in glue upon the corrugated filler and the top memberof the form let down upon it the rods are then withdrawn, they being made of flexible material sothat they can be drawn out from a curved surface, and the finished covering is allowed to dry in the form.

rlhe wood used for fabric and filler may be spruce or of several other varieties. The' rods used in assembling the corrugated filler strips vmay be shaped round or somewhat hexagonal or otherwise and may be of spring brass, aluminum or wood. ln assembling the corrugated strips upon the rods it is pointed out that some degree of success may be attained by leaving out some of the rods, for instance by placing into the assemblage every third rod and that the rods need not pass over and under alternate strips but may pass over andunder alternate couplets of stri s and so on.

.aving thus described my, invention, I claim:

l. ln a covering Ifor aeroplanes and the like comprising two sheets of fabricated material having a'corrugated filler glued Wood filler glued between, of the two outer fabricated wood walls and a wood ller composed of vnarrow corrugated wood strips, part of which are positioned with the ridges of the corrugations matching the grooves of the other corrugated strips.

3. Ai method of constructing a covering of theclass described, of laying a first sheet of the fabric ndescribed of gluing thereon corrugated strips so arranged that the ridges 0f one strip match with the grooves of the next and of gluing upon the corrugated strips a second sheet of the fabric.

4. A method of manufacturing the herein described covering of assembling a plurality of corrugated strips upon rods wherein the rods pass under and over alternate strips or sets of strips thus arranging alternate strips or sets of strips with the grooves of one strip or set of strips aligned with the ridges of other strips, whereby a whole sheet of strips 4is hung together by the rods, of laying a first sheet of the herein described wood fabric, of

gluing thereupon the sheet of A assembled corrugated strips and of gluigg upon the corrugated strips a second sheet of the aforesaid fabric.

name to this specification.

osMoNn Trianon Bunce. 

